A Fine Lady's Outlook: Presents For Those Precious Ones!

Over the years our family has made contacts with some very special people all around the globe, and as of today, stay in touch with a certain few. This all started years ago, when missionaries visited our church, exposing the dire needs of humans in the country they were supporting. I would listen to their stories and tried to imagine the horrors some people live in. Then I would get in my car and drive home. Images hurled around in my mind of what was described, and I pondered the unspeakable reality that men, women and children had to endure.

Something gripped me every time. How could it even be possible that these people spoken of, woke up every day to desperate circumstances forever surrounding them? For months I listened as these missionaries came and spoke. I unquestionably felt myself being drawn in to a world which was so different from mine. My world seemed so small and nice and predictable compared to those who were starving, or abused, or suffered from poverty as an expected way of life. What resources did I have that could possibly ease their pain?

This troubled my heart as I wrestled with world conditions so foreign to me, yet they remain a fact of life that isn't going away any time soon. The answer was easy. Give what you have and trust God for more. I remember one time we pledged to give 1,000.00 that we did not have - a faith promise they call it. Well, a few months later something interesting happened. As a side job, my husband purchased a vacant building in need of renovation. All the old copper plumbing was removed and taken to the scrap yard. Guess how much the scrap yard paid for the copper? 1,000.00!!!!!!

Another year, we were so moved and torn by stories we heard of little boys in the Ukraine. These boys were sold by their parents for a bottle of vodka. Unbelievable. The streets were filled with these innocent homeless children trying to fend for themselves.

At night they hid out and slept in the sewers where it was warm and safe. On one occasion, some friends from the U.S. traveling in that country discovered these boys and went to visit them in their "home". What got video-recorded caused me to almost vomit. The disgust of their living conditions was horrific. This lead to yet another opportunity for us to get out of our comfort zone and pay for one of these boys to be placed in a home, where he could receive food, clothing and an education. These words surfaced in my spirit, "......whatever you do for the least of these...".

The same happened with a little Asian girl held hostage in the sex slave industry. For a reasonable amount of money, we could pay for her to be taken out of her red-light district prostitution "home", and placed in a safe shelter to be cared for. My daughter has a friend who traveled to an area like this and visited these districts, walking up and down these streets, looking directly into the eyes of these young and tender victims, trying somehow, to communicate how precious they are.

Other opportunities emerged also. World Vision is one organization that is not afraid to get bold when it comes to finding donations for the poor and needy around the world. We have given minimal amounts of dollars to help farmers in third world countries learn methods for growing their own crops. We have sent donations to HIV infected children in Africa to help keep medicine and shelter available for them.

My daughter is currently sponsoring a young girl over in Thailand, and we also know a young couple working along the Burmese border in refugee camps.

Other acquaintances we know are working faithfully and tirelessly with Compasio, another ministry along the borders in Thailand. We see pictures of the living conditions mothers and children live in, and these missionaries are dedicated to walk alongside them and show unconditional love and support in whatever way possible.

Today I finished sewing some headbands I will send to Destiny Rescue, a ministry in Thailand that reaches out to the young girls whose lives have been destroyed by the sex trafficking industry. One night in December, we scheduled an evening in our home to get creative and make these headbands. And now they are ready to be shipped to these beautiful girls. Volunteers who work in these Safe Homes get to witness the restoration process begin, in hopes of bringing back the dignity and respect these girls deserve.

How do you send love around the world? How do you connect with needs so real and so deep? We have never given funding to anyone we do not know personally. Therefore, trusting these leaders is so easy. Sometimes a little bit goes a long way. My prayer is that this simple gift of designed fabric and beads will let the girls have some fun and feel beautiful in the right way.